Quest for the True North

I’m (I was) in Negros

Filed under beach, travel

I am supposed to be in Manila this weekend, but the business seminar I was planning to attend  did not push through, reason why I wasn’t at the Pond’s Taste of Beauty blogger party last Friday, like I promised.

But, as they say, when God closes a door, a window opens.  When I got home from work last Friday, my housemate Cathleen announced that she was going home to Negros and wanted some company. Kaladkarin that I am, I jumped at the chance. We left on a whim Friday midnight, her literally dragging me out the door because I wanted to sleep first, while she wanted us to leave right there and then.

More kwento when I get back.

Sunburned and sick, I am. This is what I get for motorbiking around town in wet beach clothes for two days. If my mother had been there, she would have scolded me and insisted that I change into dry clothes. That’s why I’m glad I live away from home.

I spent the weekend in La Libertad, Negros Oriental, a coastal town across Cebu.  It’s visible from Cebu and vice-versa. From Cebu City, it takes about three hours to get to a town called Tangil, where you can get on a barge that would take you across the narrow sea separating Negros and Cebu. We docked in Guiholngan, where we got on a pedicab to La Libertad.

It being a coastal town, my friend and I spent most of the weekend in the water. I like it there because we didn’t have to spend or prepare a lot or plan a lot to get a dip. Everything was spontaneous. After we arrived early on Saturday, we dumped our bags, had breakfast, and headed out to a nearby beach in our tank tops and shorts. All we had was a motorbike. We didn’t pay for any entrace fee, we didn’t bring a change of clothes, and we didn’t even have to bring food.

Whenever we got hungry, we’d head home in our wet clothes, eat, and then head out to another beach on the trusty motorbike. It’s the perfect picture of freedom. People were looking at us, but we didn’t care. Ang lamig nga lang, especially when it began to rain on the second day. We were both shivering on the bike. Wet clothes on skin + cool breeze of a coastal town + the rain = pneumonia.

We ran out of fuel once while joyriding around town, and we didn’t have money, so we had to leave the bike in the middle of nowhere and got on a tricycle for home. You know what, when we got back, gas in hand, the bike was still there. That’s how simple life there is.

My friend’s family had this large backyard where they kept pigs and chickens and grew orchids and vegetables. Sometimes, the chickens would come near the dirty kitchen, as if looking to meet and greet the new face they saw, which was me. I found them cute. Pardon me for being amazed. Although I grew up in Mindanao, there wasn’t much of that where I come from. Simplicity + freedom = perfect!

I also got to meet my friend’s infamous dogs, Clover and Tuts. Clover is a Japanese Spitz that looks exactly like Lyka in the ABS-CBN fantasy series, Lobo. Tuts is the typical askal. I haven’t come across dogs that eat ice cream like do before. We bought five ice cream drops for our snacks on the second day. Clover gobbled up three in a few seconds, while Tuts licked away at his like a little boy. I had been told earlier that they like ice cream, but I didn’t expect them to be like that. I like ice cream, too, you know, and I didn’t appreciate being deprived of my share by… dogs!

I sure would miss them both.